ABSTRACT
The growth of the YMA over its first decade was based on a belief in strength through unity and a readiness to engage in industrial militancy. Organising for the preservation and pursuit of workers’ interests was considered the key to the leverage necessary to ensure justice in dealings with employers. The YMA did not indulge in empty threats. The union was a mechanism for providing support against victimisation and sustenance in the form of strike or lock-out pay when pits were stopped through industrial action. It made withdrawal of labour a viable possibility and an effective tool against the mine owners. Where necessary, it allowed confrontation to take the form of what Pickard described as ‘war’.
